


Promise

by orphan_account



Category: ATEEZ (Band)
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, It's overall sweet i promise, Kidnapping, Light Angst, M/M, Mentions of Death, Non-Graphic Violence, Pirates, but its all good in the end, but its not as bad as it sounds, kind of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-28
Updated: 2020-05-28
Packaged: 2021-03-03 00:47:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,222
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24426028
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Jeong Yunho finds himself aboard the Promise
Relationships: Jeong Yunho/Song Mingi
Comments: 3
Kudos: 66





	Promise

**Author's Note:**

  * For [cellywelly](https://archiveofourown.org/users/cellywelly/gifts).



> For my dearest Cel
> 
> Congratulations, baby!! Infinitely proud of you.
> 
> Warning for LOTS of pirate slang, keep a glosary nearby

There’s something about being on a ship that Yunho has always found soothing. It’s like being in the soft, reassuring arms of a lady, who gently rocks you side to side, whose tenderness one wishes to keep forever.  
  
Yunho hangs onto that feeling, as he’s forcefully dragged across deck and harshly pushed onto the unforgiving hardness of the wood.  
  
It smells rotten, like putrid wood that has been wet for so long now it could never dry, even with the scorching heat upon them, the brightness of the sun high up in the sky this late morning, mighty and powerful in this summer that feels endless. It smells unlike any ship Yunho has ever had the honour - or displeasure- of boarding. But it makes sense, he manages to think, as someone grabs his hair and pushes his head back, forcing him to rise on his knees. Yunho only boards ships that are cleaned daily, polished weekly and repainted each new season, and not by choice.  
  


Because Jeong Yunho is the son of the governor. And as his title dictates, he’s never been on board of a pirate ship. Much less the dreaded Promise, whose captain and crew are nothing less than mere legends, the content of scaredy rumours down the street and in the market, and the jolly tales of adventures of the forgotten sailors, those who frequent taverns at night to deal with their solitude.  
  
Legends no less, and his father’s very own personal nightmare.  
  
Because the Promise is a fast, deadly wooden creature, cursed - blessed- by Davy Jones himself, some say, after they passionately proceed to tell the tale of how Captain Song single handedly sank yet another merchant ship, with only one canon and half the manpower. The merchants are too scared to sacrifice their ships and goods, still grieving their past loss to continue to provide Yunho’s small but essential island. Even with the largest bounty on their heads, Song and his men still manage to escape the royal navy’s grip, disappearing into the sea like a ghostly nightmare.  
  
Yunho himself never really cared for the tales of drunks and prostitutes, but as he saw his own father lose his head, health little by little deteriorating until the doctor confined him to his bed, the young man decided to take the matter into his own hands.  
  
So he sailed, with the only purpose of hunting down himself those who terrorized his island and would most likely send his father into an early grave. Not that he would grieve much, Yunho dares to think, now that his own death is probably imminent.  
  
The laughs, chatter, and yelled orders ring loudly in his ears. His hands are untied, but he dares do nothing except keep them at his sides, as the grip on his hair tightens and all he can see is up, up, up, the brightness of the sky, the blood red of the sails, high and mighty, accompanied by the cursed wind that seemed to always accompany the Promise and its dreaded crew.  
  
Yunho starts to doubt even his own god when he realizes this damned ship could indeed be infernal. He can’t for the love of heaven itself understand how they managed to capture him, given that he had dressed up as a common sailor to hide his identity and keep himself safe from harm, safe from being targeted. And yet, amidst the yells, the chaos, the loudness of the well aimed cannons - aimed to damage,to immobilize, not to kill- he remembers being grabbed. Swords clanked against each other, an awfully loud cackle that made him shiver to his bones, the distinct smell of gunpowder reaching his very lungs. Someone was pushed overboard, and then, a well directed kick to his hand and he was unarmed, two strong men tugging him into the pirate ship with an unforgivingly firm hold.  
  
And as they sail, further and further away from his own destroyed ship and his mind calms down, he realizes, it’s only him in here. Only him, on board of a ship full of pirates, disgusting men who will rip him apart limb by limb or make him walk the plank without a second thought.  
  
And they knew it was him, he realizes, thinks about the way they aimed for him and him only, the attack only a distraction so they could grab him. And nobody realized, after all, no one but the Commodore knew the very own son of the Governor was on board of the ship, for his own safety.  
  
Was the man a traitor?  
  
He doubted it, after his stunned mind reminds him of his dead body on the polished deck.  
  
Yunho’s mouth tastes like salt, like the very same sea they pretend to have tamed, and while normally he would bask in the taste, right now it feels like he’s drowning, neck strained back like that, and he can barely breathe, closing his eyes and gasping for air.  
  
“Avast!” Comes a voice above all the others, loud and deep, deeper than his own confused mind. But there’s something soul-shatteringly familiar about it too, and he falls back onto the deck when the hand on his hair lets go. He grunts, coughing with the effort of breathing again, his hands barely catching him this time. “What be I sayin’’ ‘bout treating our guests, ye disgusting cockroach?” The same imposing man says again, and the ship is mostly quiet now, only the loudness of the sea as their company and Yunho gasps for yet another breath. Shining black boots come into his line of vision and he doesn’t dare look up, scared of what he might find, because the voice just twists his stomach in a way that might make him sick.  
  
“Aye, captain, sorry captain!” Says the man behind him, the bastard who almost made him choke and definitely left some bruises. Yunho is breathing evenly now, and he bravely glances to his side, spotting some swords that he could maybe get away with snatching, if he was fast enough to steal them from the men’s side. But does he want to risk it? At least he’d die with dignity.  
  
“Yer captain has his prize!” The man yells in delight, enticing cheers and cackles, and the clinking of the swords of a crew that celebrates having captured him. It’s beyond humiliating, being treated like a prize, a mere thing. And his stomach churns uncomfortably.  
  
  
“He be the one?” Comes Captain Song’s voice after the crew has calmed down, Yunho’s eyes firmly fixed on the floor.  
  
“Aye, captain! He be strong, this landlubber.” Someone else answers, and Yunho dares to look back up his shoulder to the young man who’s looking back at him with a smug grin.  
Disgusting, damned, bastard. “We almost be usin’ the monkey with him.” The same boy informs and Yunho screws his eyes shut as suddenly the captain is next to him in two big strides, choking him by the sounds of it. Yunho refuses to see.  
  
“Ye, goddamned rat, I’ll crush ye barnacles! Did ye not hear me orders?!” The captain threatens and the boy falls onto the floor with a whine, the people around Yunho moving away from him, as the Captain walks back to his spot in front of him, black shiny boots a meter away from the son of the governor, once more.  
  
“Avast ye, ye useless scallywags! I be sayin’ this one more time! If you hurt this boy, ye walk the plank. If you insult this boy, ye walk the plank. If you touch this boy…. ye will walk the plank!” The man yells so solemnly, Yunho feels shaken to his very core. “Savvy?!”  
  
“Aye, captain!” Comes the chorus of replies all around him, kneeling still. It’s hurtful now.   
  
“Let us see…” The man crouches, and suddenly, a far more gentle hand tangles in the hair of his nape and eases his head back. Yunho dreads the moment his eyes find deep, dark ones. The eyes of someone who has seen far too much of the world for such a young age, his skin tinted after spending so long under the sun, the harshness of the salt in the air. He’s handsome, and beyond the harshness of his stare, there’s a spark of something. Recognition, perhaps, or hope. The same spark Yunho feels deep inside himself.  
  
Because as Yunho’s head is guided back, he finds himself looking in the eyes of Song Mingi, his one and only, long lost childhood friend, and the first love of his life.  
  
He gasps, tears gathering in the corner of his eyes at the overwhelming pressure on his chest, whether it’s happiness, relief, or utter betrayal, he doesn’t know yet. But all of it forcefully turns into anger and shame when Mingi, his sweet Mingi lets out a nasty cackle, all gentleness in his eyes fading away as fast as it came.  
  
“He be pretty, ain’t he?” He asks, and receives an approving set of whistles and nasty, improper comments that Yunho wouldn’t dare to say even in a house of ill repute. “Ah, Jeong Yunho, welcome to the Promise! We’ll show ye the real pirate hospitality, won’t we, lads?” Mingi asks again, a little show for his crew to delight on, toying with him in a way that only fuels the bubbling anger in his stomach.  
  
“You all be damned, what the hell do you want with me?” Yunho grunts, hand defiantly curling against Mingi’s wrist and his eyes full of hatred and betrayal. All hope that his old friend is all but playing a very elaborate, ugly joke on him vanishes the second he feels sharpness on his neck. Someone’s sword threatening him against harming his captain. As if he could, he sasses mentally and reluctantly lets go.  
  
Mingi merely smirks and lets go of his hair, holding his face up by his chin instead.  
  
“Behave, pretty boy.” It’s a warning, Yunho realizes, as he tries to calm his angry breathing.”My crew has slippery fingers, ye know?” He says, a fake polite smile on. Yunho doubts they’ll harm him, though, figuring out they need him alive, sound and safe for a proper ransom. “Now, now, I gave quarter to your men back there, didn’t I? I even left those ladies enough to get back to shore handsomely. There be no need to act like this.” Mingi says.  
  
“They’ll be back for me. They’ll bring the navy with them.” Yunho all but spits angrily, disgusted at the way his so called friend is acting.  
  
“Oh? But dead men tell no tales.”  
  
Yunho panics, “They’re alive.” He rushes to say, they couldn’t be all dead, right? Mingi just said it, he gave quarter-  
  
“They won’t be for long if you don’t cooperate. Behave, pretty boy, or I be comin’ about in no time to scuttle the ship and send them to Davy Jones’ locker myself just for the fun of it.”  
  
Yunho breathes harshly, refusing to give into his fear “All the navy will come for me, anyways. They’ll come for you.”  
  
“Oh, sink me!” Mingi cackles, full of sarcasm, followed by the amused sounds of his crew, who fill him with shame. “The whole navy be after us, lads! We better sail smartly then” He snorts, and Yunho is sure the way Mingi’s thumb caresses his chin is nothing short of fond.  
“So let them. We know what happened to the last who tried to take away me treasure.” He states and with a single head movement, someone tugs Yunho up by his collar and he is forced into the captain’s cabin, thrown onto the floor once again, and before he can sit up, Mingi closes the doors after himself, effectively trapping them both together.  
  
Yunho hears the leftover cackles of the crew and shivers at the way Mingi gives him a slow, almost languid once over. It feels like he’s studying him. Yunho’s body burns with it.  
  
“Mingi.” He says breathless, helpless, all his bravery left on deck.  
  
“Yunho.” Mingi sighs, and the grin that takes over his face is breathtaking, Yunho is left holding onto his stomach as a bucket of memories is thrown over him, leaving him rather paralyzed. “Took me years to find you.” He says, and it’s like the boy Yunho knew is back again. It’s like they’re back in the garden of Yunho’s mansion, before his dad was designed governor, back when Mingi’s own father was the commodore, before he was charged with treason and Yunho was locked inside his house for two months, with guards on his windows and doors, because he would do anything to escape, to go find Mingi, why would nobody tell him where his friend was? Why would no one allow him out? Why couldn’t he even send him letters? Know how he was?  
  
The despair he felt those months feels foreign now, as if washed away by time. Was it all even real? It all feels like a dream now.  
  
“Liked my little show back there?” He smirks, and it doesn’t sit well in his stomach.  
  
“Yes.” Yunho replies, without showing a single reaction, but full of sarcasm. “Especially the part where I was forced to my knees and someone put a sword to my throat.”  
  
His- friend? captor? enemy?- snorts, biting his lip in amusement. It offends him, the way he seems to enjoy his suffering. But Mingi has always had a sadist trait in him, Yunho thinks, and remembers when they would wrestle and Mingi would take the utmost pleasure on pinning him down with his whole body, or pin him against a wall after they were done with a swords match to practice. And Yunho would let him, because they were young, and he was so very in love he dreaded the day their parents would deem their games inappropriate and send them to social gatherings to meet young girls instead.  
  
“Blimey! Who would have thought the young lord Jeong would enjoy such things? What would people think? Scandalous.” Mingi mocks him, unapologetic. His accent is less thick now, no doubt acquired with the years of sailing with pirates, thieves. It hurts Yunho, because the Mingi he remembers was well spoken, albeit with a pleasure for cursing. He misses when they were forced to recite poetry in their classes together.  
  
“Did you want to undress me, also? For all your disgusting men to see? That would have fit the utter humiliation you made me go through.” Yunho continues, ignoring the little jab and Mingi’s smile falters, albeit just for a second.  
  
“Oh now, come on, love, don’t be like that. I couldn’t take away all the little fun the crew be havin’.” Mingi’s expression is now somber, and he walks around the small space, getting rid of his hat, his jacket, leaving him looking slim, yet taller and broader than ever. He’s a handsome man now, and a spark of desire comes back to life in the depths of Yunho’s soul.  
  
There are moments, certain angles and expressions that give Yunho a foreign feeling of disaffection, as if he didn’t really know the man in front of him.  
  
They stay like that for a moment, the tension so thick Yunho could cut with a knife.  
  
So he does.  
  
“You killed people.”  
  
“They killed others first.” Mingi replies, showing signs of annoyance at Yunho’s statement.  
  
“Who others?”  
  
“My people.”  
  
“Your people? I- whatever do you mean? Pirates? Thieves? Murderers-”  
  
“People who steal to live, who steal for their families. Bur do they care?" A sneer, filled with heartfelt hatred. "No. They sentence them without even a proper judgement! Anyone who is suspected of having contact with a so called pirate. I’ve seen children sentenced to-  
  
“Enough! You can’t possibly defend them-”  
  
“You of all people should know of the greed of those who allegedly serve the king. Your father, for starters.” Mingi finishes the discussion with his deep, authoritative voice, harshly undoing his belt, his sword and throwing them onto the bed.  
  
His words leave him speechless, a scramble of feelings making him uneasy and perpetuating the sick feeling in the pit of his stomach. He crosses his arms and looks through the window at the endless sea.  
  
It is a well known fact that Yunho’s father is corrupt to a fault. He’s said to be ruthless to whoever crosses his path, known for his harsh punishments and his authoritative management of the island’s affairs. Heartless, they call him. And his son knows, for a fact, it’s only true.  
  
“So this is … a revenge. An eye for an eye.” Yunho concludes. “For your father and… your people.” He states, always quick and smart for these things, he understands now, why the Promise seemed to be so selective with its killings, the way it would only haunt Yunho’s island and particularly his father’s business. It is a well known fact that the current governor participated in the accusation and sentence of the former Commodore, Mingi’s father. Suspiciously, right after he had publicly exposed his corrupt acts.  
  
This is the confirmation that his father, besides being corrupt, is also a murderer.   
  
Mingi says nothing, and Yunho is beyond hurt.   
  
“And now you’re punishing me? Why? Whatever have I done to you to deserve this?”  
  
His companion sighs softly and shakes his head, albeit smiling softly. His anger seems subdued now, replaced with what seems fondness, if he can feel that towards Yunho, now, even after so many years. Does he blame him for his father’s death? Does he blame Yunho for being his father’s son?  
  
“No, Yunho, not to you.” Mingi says but he offers no further explanation and his frustration only grows, unbearable.  
  
“Mingi, I- Where were you? They told me you left. I looked for you all over the island, I-” He feels tears at the corner of his eyes once again. And he hates himself for doing this, for crying. He truly feels like a fifteen years old boy once again, back when he would cry too much and Mingi would always hug him close, telling him he was just as sensitive as a lady. And he would push him away, only to be hugged once more.  
  


It’s all too far away from them now.  
  
“What are you doing? You can’t possibly be a pirate- much less the captain of the Promise-” All of a sudden, his former friend crowds into his space and gently takes him by his face, thumbs caressing the soft skin of his cheeks, just like when they sneaked out that one night, and Mingi kissed him for the first time under a bridge.  
  
“Just get me back home.” Yunho pleads, closing his eyes because he can’t bear looking into the eyes of his one and only love, who up until this day he thought was lost forever.  
  
“Sorry, love. No can do.”   
  
They stay there, like this, because Mingi has always loved toying with his feelings until he snapped. Like back when he courted a young lady for weeks until Yunho started ignoring Mingi, only to have him begging for forgiveness because please, I did not mean any of it, I just wanted to make you jealous.  
  
“Where were you?” Yunho whispers, but still refuses to open his eyes, even if a tear slides past his eyelashes and down his cheek. Mingi kisses it away, inciting a little shiver down his spine.  
  
“When my father was charged…” He starts slowly, like a secret, only for them to hear. “They came after my mother and me. So she sent me away, and I ended up here, in the ship of my grandfather. When he became too old to sail, I gathered a small crew of my own, the friends I had made in that poor, forgotten place in the middle of nowhere where he owned a house. Thieves, fugitives, the poor and forgotten.” He stops, and Yunho finally dares to look up into the other’s gentle eyes. “We fixed this ship. Made it ours. We set sail to never return, we decided that ...if the world didn’t want us, then we would make the sea our own as well. When I heard of your mother’s passing...I knew I had to look for you. I heard you were unmarried, that you wouldn’t get engaged, I just- I had to look for you. What else was there for you in that god forbidden island?” Mingi asks, so earnest and Yunho has to swallow all his feelings before he inevitably ends up crying into Mingi’s arms yet again, even after so long. “After all… I made you a promise.”  
  
And then Yunho remembers, just by the way those lips pronounce that word. He distinctly remembers, like the most vivid of dreams that one fateful night when they managed to get away of a party and into the dark gardens of the mansion’s. He remembers Mingi daring him to climb up the wall with him, the way they helped one another as they sat upon it and had the most perfect view of the ocean they could ever have.  
  
He gasps and pulls away, shocked, moved, in tears.  
  
“I- Our promise?...you absolute bastard! You didn’t have to kidnap me- oh for the love of god-”  
  
Mingi laughs, delighted as he tugs Yunho back close to him by his arms. wiping away his tears. Whether they’re happy, frustrated or from relief, he doesn’t know. “What did you expect me to do?! They would hang me if I as much as set foot in that place again! Do you really think the letters of a poor sailor would reach the son of the governor? My, Yunho, so many years and you’re still so naive.”  
  
“Stop!” Yunho whines, but he can’t stop smiling himself, half-heartedly trying to push Mingi’s insistent hands away from him. “I thought I had lost you forever. I thought you hated me. I tried- I really did try to find you, I-”  
  
“Shhh. It’s fine. I know, I know.” Mingi soothes, hugging him against his chest, holding him close for dear life.  
  
“I hate you.” Yunho sniffs, without a single bit of malice or seriousness in his voice. “I was so scared.”  
  
“You were so brave. Me brave boy.” Mingi whispers and kisses his forehead.  
  
“A bastard, that’s what you are. What were you trying to prove out there?”  
  
“My crew would never hurt you, love. You’re far too valuable. But nobody would have taken me seriously if we were looking for an old love. We’re supposed to ask for a ransom. After all, now I have a reputation to maintain, you know?”  
  
Yunho huffs. “You enjoyed all that, do not lie to me, Song Mingi.”  
  
The laughter vibrates comfortingly in Mingi’s chest, and he pulls away, fixing Yunho’s hair tenderly. He still can’t believe this is all real.  
  
“I didn’t know if you were still you anymore. I needed to see if you’d even remember me. It’s been so long.” Mingi says cautiously, like afraid of the idea of Yunho not wanting him anymore. As if he could ever not.  
  
“You’re ridiculous. How could I ever forget you?”  
  
“And if your heart belonged to another?  
  
“What would you have done then?” Yunho whispers curiously, enjoying the way he can look at Mingi’s face up close, how much it has changed, how much it hasn’t, his strong, glistening chest-  
  
“If you didn’t want me anymore? Leave you in an island... somewhere you could find your way home after telling my crew I’ve killed you, most likely.” Mingi replies with a half smile, as if the mere idea didn’t sadden his heart into stop beating.  
  
Yunho smiles back, reassuring. “And what will you do now? Make me go on account?” He asks flirtatiously, swallowing at the way his eyes stay fixed in Mingi’s mouth, lips that he hasn’t tasted in so very long.  
  
“We’ll come up with something. We’ve always been good at hiding and sneaking anyways.” Mingi smiles handsomely, and before he can stop himself, Yunho leans in and finally, after so many years, kisses his one true love into oblivion.  
  
  
  
_“One day I will leave this island. I will leave forever.” Mingi said, proudly sharing his dreams to a way too smitten Yunho who was set to follow him to the end of the world if required._ _  
_ _  
_ _“And where would you go?” Young Yunho asked, fascinated by the way Mingi was so immature but yet so determined._ _  
_ _  
_ _“Nowhere. Anywhere. I would live in the sea, forever. I could go wherever I wanted, whenever I wanted. I’d own a ship, and do as I please.”_ _  
_ _  
_ _“And… would you come visit me?”_ _  
_ _  
_ _“Of course not!” Mingi frowned, and Yunho’s heart experienced rejection for the very first time. Only to be nursed back to health right away. “You’ll be coming with me, of course! And we’ll sail the seven seas!”_ _  
_ _  
_ _“You promise?!”_ _  
_ _  
_ _“Cross my heart and hope to die.” Mingi grinned toothily, and an unforgettable memory had set in the depth of Yunho’s heart._   
  
And Yunho understands now, can see it so clearly it makes him smile into the kiss. Because Mingi sailed in the search for him carried by an unbreakable promise - his Promise, their promise. One that will carry them both through the seven seas and beyond. 

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you liked this!


End file.
